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Need Trial Practice Tips? Browse the Stacks of Your Local Law Library

In traditional libraries, it doesn't make sense to browse the stacks; it's faster to pinpoint exactly what you're looking for by using the electronic card catalog. Law libraries are different: they become a hundred times more useful when you browse the stacks--using your feet, not a computer--to see what's available.

Until you browse, you can't get a good idea of what you might be missing. For litigators, a half hour spent among the trial practice shelves can yield a wealth of tips and ideas. In the law library beneath the Madison County courthouse, for example, you can find the following multi-volume treatises, among many others: Trial Handbook for Illinois Lawyers; Nichols Illinois Civil Practice; TheAttorneys' Dictionary of Medicine; Federal Trial Handbook; Weinstein's Federal Evidence; and AmJur Trials.

Until you see these treatises spread out in front of you on a shelf, you won't get a sense for how much useful information might be contained inside their covers. Using a computer do this? Forget it . . .